TWN Info Service on Biosafety and Sustainable Agriculture
Dear Friends and Colleagues
GM Crops Unlikely to Ever Meet the Requirements of Sustainable Agriculture
The role of genetically modified (GM) crops in supporting sustainable food systems is an ongoing controversy based on two radically different definitions of agricultural sustainability. One is a narrow definition, based on amelioration of current unsustainable practices, such as the use of synthetic pesticides in agriculture. The other is a broad definition, based on the long-term promotion of human and ecosystem health. To assess the sustainability impacts of GM crops, including the new gene-edited crops, this review discusses the sustainability impacts of herbicide-tolerant (HT) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) pesticidal GM crops; and the problem of unintended traits (UTs) in commercial GM crops.
Its key findings include: (1) Bt and HT traits have exacerbated and expanded the pesticide treadmill, including the use of extremely toxic pesticides; (2) Bt toxins and Bt plants as well as glyphosate-based herbicides used on HT crops have harmful off-target effects on mammals, beneficial insects and aquatic organisms; (3) UTs are frequent in all standard GM crops and often have a negative impact on sustainability; and (4) plant gene editing can be imprecise, unpredictable, and highly mutagenic.
The report concludes that creating a GM crop that meets the broad requirements of sustainable agriculture seems highly unlikely to ever happen in practice. Despite the promise of new traits and techniques, GM crops, including gene-edited crops, are unlikely to meet either the narrow agronomic or broader social and environmental requirements of sustainable agriculture. The so-called commercial successes of GM crops are due to politics, rather than technical factors. For economic and ideological reasons, public research, government regulation, and subsidies have been tailored to promote their rapid acceptance and expansion, while suppressing unwelcome findings and locking out alternatives. The mainstream media further consistently portrays GM crops and technology as promising and technically successful.
In spite of these systemic biases, however, there are signs of change. Some commodity crop farmers in the United States have abandoned GM crops and substituted more sustainable regenerative practices. Some GM plant breeders have switched to conventional and participatory plant breeding. Meanwhile, the acreage of land under organic production has increased. Numerous researchers from different disciplines have called for both agricultural practices and plant breeding to become more socially and ecologically sustainable, and reject GM crops. These are hopeful signs that the scientific and political momentum is building to end the transgenic treadmill and transition to the agroecological and regenerative practices needed to underpin a sustainable food system.
With best wishes,
Third World Network
131 Jalan Macalister
10400 Penang
Malaysia
Email: twn@twnetwork.org
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WILL GENE-EDITED AND OTHER GM CROPS FAIL SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS?
Wilson, A. K. (Oct 2020) In Rethinking Food and Agriculture (pp. 247-284). Woodhead Publishing.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012816410500013X
Abstract
The role of genetically modified (GM) crops in supporting sustainable food systems is an ongoing controversy. Underlying this controversy, I will argue, are radically different definitions of agricultural sustainability. One is a narrow definition, based on amelioration of current unsustainable practices, such as the use of synthetic pesticides in agriculture. The other is a broad definition, based on the long-term promotion of human and ecosystem health. To assess the sustainability impacts of GM crops, this review first provides (1) a brief summary of the sustainability impacts of herbicide-tolerant and Bacillus thuringiensis pesticidal GM crops and (2) an overview of GM plant breeding, with a focus on the problem of unintended traits (UTs) in commercial GM crops. These UTs, I argue, are a major yet underappreciated contributor to their lack of sustainability. The review asks next whether new and complex GM traits such as biofortification, or the subset of new GM techniques called gene editing, can benefit sustainable agriculture. Golden Rice provides a case study of UTs in GM crops carrying complex traits. Given the failings of Golden Rice, caused in part by UTs, a key question is whether gene editing techniques are more precise and their outcomes more predictable. To address this, the review summarizes the known unintended effects of gene editing and their potential for introducing UTs. I conclude that, despite the promise of new traits and techniques, GM crops, including gene-edited crops, are unlikely to meet either the narrow agronomic or broader social and environmental requirements of sustainable agriculture. The review ends with a discussion of how plant breeders can best support and promote sustainable agriculture, and thus help create sustainable food systems.